“The death penalty has been challenged from many different angles in recent years. But who could have imagined that executions would be delayed in some states due to the shortage of a drug used in lethal injections?

Albert Greenwood Brown Jr. was scheduled to die today in California, which has not had an execution in nearly five years. The execution date was set for Thursday in part because California’s supply of thiopental sodium, one of the three drugs used in lethal injections, is due to expire tomorrow.

But legal challenges have halted the Brown execution meaning California may be one drug short of the cocktail needed to resume executions.”